The Hedgehog comes from an ancient family and fossils suggest that
Hedgehog-like creatures have been on the earth for about 15 million years.

Has it any relations?

The modern Hedgehog has no close relatives amongst other mammals although
it may have distant links with moles and shrews. It belongs to a family all
on its own and has developed along a separate evolutionary line for millions
of years. The family has a
dozen or so species, five in S.E. Asia, three in Africa and two in China but
no indigenous ones in the Americas or in Australasia. Our British Hedgehog is the same species which occurs in most
of the continent of Europe and is called Erinaceus europaeus.

What does a Hedgehog look like?

Who doesn't know?

What's on the outside?

Of course the Hedgehog is characterised by its spines.
These are modified hairs, about 2-3cms (1") long, which cover the back of
its head and body. As a Hedgehog
grows the number of its spines increases until when adult it has between
5000 and 7000. By this time it will
be somewhere between 20-30cms (8"-12") in length but its tail
will be less than 2-3cms long.

Whole spine

And what about the inside?

Under the prickles the Hedgehog has a remarkable system of muscles which
are designed to raise and lower its spines. When it is frightened it will
tighten the muscles around its flanks and curl up. Its soft parts are
thus completely guarded by a defensive cover of prickles which few
enemies can penetrate. But what
about its bones? Have a look at
the diagram of a Hedgehog's skeleton below -

Skeleton

Scientists have discovered very little unusual about the Hedgehog's
skeleton except the shortness of the neck. This probably helps it to roll up into a compact ball more easily.
The Hedgehog's peculiar ability to roll itself into a ball, and to
stay in this attitude for a long time (especially during hibernation),
however, is made possible by the powerful muscle which covers its back like
a cape. A look at the X-ray
picture of a rolled up Hedgehog below will make it clear why this self-defence
mechanism means that it has fewer enemies than any other mammal of similar
proportions.

X-ray view Ofrolled-up Hedgehog

Our thanks to Guy
Troughton for the drawings.

More Facts about Hedgehogs

They have
relatively long
legs - about 10cms (4") - and these enable them to run as fast as we can
walk.

Their front feet are
shorter and broader than their back ones.

The
claws on their powerful front feet are particularly useful
for digging.

Each
night (when
not hibernating) Hedgehogs will probably make a slow and
apparently haphazard search for food and will travel between 2-3kms (1-2 miles).

They have small
bright eyes but cannot see very well. At
night they will use their excellent sense of smell and hearing to guide them.

Theirweight
will be largely determined by the food they get, but most one-year olds will
weigh between 450-680g (1-1½1bs).

Self-anointing
is an activity only
Hedgehogs do. It seems to be
connected with strange smells or tastes which cause them to produce large
quantities of frothy saliva. They
then spread the foam over their spines by flicking it with their tongue.

If a young
Hedgehog survives its early life in the nest and then its first hibernation,
it can expect to live for 4 or 5 years longer. By this time it will be getting old but might live to the age of
ten.

Generally they lead solitary
lives and tend to go out of their way to avoid other Hedgehogs, except
during the mating season.

Like most mammals
the Hedgehog has a characteristic
smell and this will usually warn other Hedgehogs to keep
out of the way.

In the mating
season the male may be attracted by the different
smell of the female and commence a rather prolonged and noisy courtship
with her.

Hedgehogs
do not pair bond and the female raises her young unaided by the male.

Litters
of young, called
Hoglets, are born from May onwards to as late as September and average about
2 to 6 in number.

When the Hoglets
are about 5-6 weeks old they leave the nest and wander off on their own -
they weigh around 250g (8oz) at this stage.

a) To encourage and give advice to the public
concerning the care of Hedgehogs
particularly when injured, sick, treated cruelly, orphaned or
in any other danger
b) To encourage children to respect our natural wild-life-by supplying
information and giving lectures, and thus fostering an interest in
Hedgehogs
c) to fund serious research into behavioural habits of Hedgehogs and to
ascertain the best methods of assisting their survival